Fútbol: El Juego Apasionado

Buenos Aires Travel Blog

Combine the passion for baseball, football, and basketball teams in the US and you would only have a fraction of the passion that Latin Americans have for fútbol. And trust me, they have the talent to back up their pride. The Río de la Plata region has birthed some of the best fútbol players of all times, such as El Diego and King Pelé. Diego Maradona is the fútbol idol from Argentina who led them to a World Cup with two amazing goals. One was amazing because he took the ball from halfway down the field. The other for the fact that he may have used his hand a little, which he deemed “La Mano de Díos” or the hand of God. Pelé is the Brazilian national team to a World Cup as well. Not to mention, the World Cup earned 32-40billion in revenues in 2006. Fútbol is what Latin Americans take pride in. For the US, we are a political superpower and can take pride in that. Argentina takes pride in its fútbol. For example, when polled, Argentines chose Maradona over Evita Perón as their national hero. They take extreme pride in their club teams. In Buenos Aires, the largest rivalry is between Boca Juniors and River Plate. Boca Juniors represent the lower class with their stadium situated in the working class barrio, Boca. River Plate, on the other had, is the upper class team. There are fans for these two teams all over the world. I told a friend of mine in Santiago that I had bought a Boca jersey and gone to their game and he even got upset because he’s a River fan, and he isn’t even Argentine! Needless to say, worldwide and especially in Latin America, fútbol is much more important as a sport than it is in the US.